ORLANDO, Fla. -- Not long after seeing a call come in from the Cooperstown, N.Y., area code, Joe Buck’s "heart felt like it stopped" and his thoughts drifted straight to his late father, Jack Buck, upon learning that he would be the 2026 recipient of the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award.
Not that Joe Buck ever expected to be in this lofty Hall of Fame position -- certainly not when he was 22 years old and his father left him alone in the booth to broadcast a Cardinals game solo; not when he was 27 years old and calling his first World Series; and not even when he called the most All-Star Games and World Series among any network broadcaster. But on Wednesday, he was never prouder about being “Jack Buck’s kid.”
Upon learning that he would be joining his father in baseball’s Hall of Fame and becoming the first father/son duo to do so, the younger Buck reflected on how much his father beamed throughout his 1987 Hall honor. He thought about all the breaks he got along the way with his famous last name and all the lessons he learned that allowed him to become the broadcaster he is today.
“My best memory of my father as a broadcaster was in 1987 in Cooperstown, N.Y., and what that meant to him, meant to our family and to see the joy and pride he had,” Buck said. “I come in [to broadcasting] as the luckiest guy in the world. I was lucky to call Jack Buck my dad and my best friend. I’m lucky I’m Carol Buck’s son.
“It’s hard for me -- and this is why I have a therapist -- to accept this kind of stuff, because I downplay awards because of the feeling I had a leg-up at the start of my career, and I did. But I’m happy I paid attention as a kid, because I wanted to be with [Jack]. He and I were best friends.”
Buck beat out finalists Brian Anderson, Skip Caray, Rene Cardenas, Gary Cohen, Jacques Doucet, Duane Kuiper, John Rooney, Dan Shulman and John Sterling for the honor. Also, the 56-year-old Buck becomes the second-youngest Frick Award winner, trailing only Vin Scully, who was 54 when he was named as the 1982 winner. It was a fitting accomplishment for Buck, who became the youngest play-by-play World Series announcer (27) since Scully in 1953.
“Joe Buck authored his own historic legacy while following in the footsteps of his father on a path to Cooperstown,” said Josh Rawitch, president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. “During an era of unprecedented audience growth throughout the game, Joe was the voice of the World Series and the All-Star Game, calling the biggest moments in baseball for more than a quarter of a century. He was a Saturday staple in homes across America while still serving as the voice of his hometown St. Louis Cardinals.”
Born April 25, 1969, in St. Petersburg, Fla., Buck grew up in St. Louis as his father called Cardinals games on KMOX radio. He matriculated at Indiana University, and by 1989, he was calling games for the Triple-A Louisville Redbirds. In 1991, Buck joined his father on Cardinals broadcasts and remained with the team through 2007.
In 1994, Buck joined FOX Sports as an NFL play-by-play announcer and soon added baseball to his national resume. In 1996, Buck called his first World Series at age 27, becoming the youngest World Series voice since 25-year-old Vin Scully in 1953. Buck would be behind the mic again for the 1998 World Series and then each year from 2000 through '21. From 1996 through 2021, when he left FOX, Buck called 26 League Championship Series and 21 All-Star Games while voicing the network’s Saturday Game of the Week.
Working with partners at FOX that included 2012 Frick Award winner Tim McCarver and Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz, Buck set a record (with McCarver) for most All-Star Games as a broadcast duo with 15 Midsummer Classics.
Buck acknowledged the support he had gotten from another broadcasting icon with St. Louis ties, Bob Costas. Like Costas, Buck went from starting his broadcasting career in St. Louis to becoming a media star on a national level.
“I felt as comfortable in the Cardinals clubhouse when I was their announcer as I did in my living room,” Buck said. “And then I go to Yankee Stadium and I’m walking around and there’s Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams and they don’t know me, and I don’t know them. … I didn’t have that extra layer of knowing them as people. Maybe, in some ways, that was better.”
When Buck found out that he was Hall bound on Wednesday, he was at work on his stats board for the call of the Miami Dolphins at the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football. When Buck left FOX for ESPN in 2021, he also left behind baseball broadcasting, save for a couple of games with FanDuel Sports Network alongside of Chip Caray in 2024 and another game for ESPN to open the 2025 baseball season. Sure, Buck misses baseball, but he’s also now the father of four and he values the family time that his dad often had to miss out on while going through the grind of an MLB season.
Cracked Buck: “I still dream at night as a baseball announcer.”
Buck knows that he’ll likely be remembered for a famous baseball call that, not surprisingly, has a tie-in with his famous father. When David Freese homered in the 11th inning of Game 6 of the 2011 World Series to force a Game 7, Buck proclaimed, “We … will … see you … tomorrow night!” It was a nod to his father’s call from the 1991 World Series.
“I tried to not only use the same words, but the same intonation and cadence as my dad had,” Buck admitted. “I knew if my dad were alive … he would’ve been in tears. So, it was a kind of tip of my cap to him.”